Can I keep him?
by Kristina Andersson
Summary: Bliss and Recess takes a little trip... Sequel to Baby's day out. Part of the Hera's Curse AU. Mention of M/M pairing


Title: Can I keep him?  
  
Author: Kris Andersson  
  
Shanna_se@yahoo.se  
  
Archive: Yes please. It would be nice if you let me know though, so I can feel proud. :)  
  
Rating: PG?  
  
Pairing: C/S  
  
Category: Humor  
  
Feedback: Feedback feeds the muses. :)  
  
Summary: Bliss and Recess takes a little trip.  
  
Another answer to Scorpio's Hera's curse challenge. It's also the answer to a quote challenge Marion posted at AJCS. I hope you'll enjoy this. I've put both challenges at the end of the story.  
  
Kudos to anyone who can spot the two small Harry Potter references.  
  
Hugs to Christine for betaing this really fast so I could post it before Christmas. You're tha bomb, Christine!  
  
For Jesse who likes my Recess. And Beth for being… Beth.  
  
  
  
Can I keep him?  
  
  
  
Strife sighed and snuggled closer to his husband. This was bliss, at least as long as Bliss the person, and his sister Recess were still asleep. Child- free mornings like this were rare. The sea trip with Poseidon yesterday must have worn the kids out.  
  
The sound of water squirting out in the air made him look out through the window. "Honey, did you add a geyser to our back yard?" he asked his sleepy husband.  
  
"No, why?" Cupid mumbled and turned around.  
  
"Then I think our lovely children are up to something and that we better hurry outside," Strife said and dressed himself.  
  
Cupid burst out of bed, wide-awake and did the same.  
  
They ran out to the garden and then came to a complete halt, not really believing what they were seeing.  
  
After Recess' birth, the family had moved out of Cupid's old temple to a bigger one, courtesy of Hades. He rarely spent time on Olympus and Persephone lived with her mother during their six months apart.  
  
The temple swap had been great, more space, more rooms and closer to Ares' temple. But it also meant that they got Poseidon as a neighbor. While Poseidon loved both Bliss and Recess, he loved them best in small doses. Luckily he spent most of his time under sea in his own dominion.  
  
Bliss and Recess adored their Unc' Posy, and even more the huge pool of water between the temples. They were often found in the back yard, first flying up in the sky and then diving down in the pool creating huge cannonballs.  
  
This morning, someone was in the pool, but it wasn't Bliss and Recess.  
  
The two gods just stared at the big black and white killer whale that'd taken up residence in the pool over night. And the two children who stood by the pool. At first their facial expression clearly said 'BUSTED!' Then they changed into ' who, me?' and then to 'completely innocent and I resent that you could even think for a second that I have anything to do with this'.  
  
Recess came forward with a big toothy smile, "Hi Dad Strife, Daddy." She looked at her parents frowning faces and then at the whale. "Oh, him. He followed me home. Can I keep him?" she asked eagerly, batting long eyelashes over huge brown eyes.  
  
Cupid's face turned red, his eyes were flashing and Bliss was sure he saw smoke coming out of his ears. Maybe helping Recess transporting the whale to Olympus hadn't been such a great idea after all. The plan was to silently support Recess' outrageous requests for pets. Last week she'd asked Great Grampa Zeus if he could make a dinosaur come to life for her. Preferably a T-Rex. The week before that there was a hydra she'd taken a fancy to and the month before that she'd begged their parents for an elephant or five. Not to mention the unicorn incident… Bliss figured that by the time he finally asked his parents for a dog, they would be so relieved that they actually would thank him for asking.  
  
"Holy shi… chimpanzees, what have you done?" Strife exclaimed. Filled with both parental anger and professional admiration. What a great piece of mischief!  
  
"There's holy chimpanzees?" Recess' eyes widened at the thought and got a greedy glimmer. "How did they become holy? Did great grandpa Zeus bless them? Can I have one?"  
  
Cupid opened his mouth, then closed it, opened it again, closed it and took a deep breath. "Your. Rooms. Now," he growled in his 'don't mess with me, I brought you into this world, I can take you out' voice.  
  
Bliss gulped, grabbed his sister and ran to the nursery.  
  
When the children had left, Strife was unable to hold it in anymore. "Save the whales. Collect the whole set," he snorted and then howled with laughter, rolling on the ground.  
  
"This isn't funny," Cupid glared at the love of his life. "Traitor," he muttered when Strife just gave him a look and then continued to laugh.  
  
"I know…" Strife made an effort to control himself. "But did you see Bliss' face when we arrived?" he giggled. "Our children are adorable!"  
  
"I doubt Poseidon will think so when he realizes that one of his minions has been pet-napped by our precious little ones." Cupid sighed. "We'll be kissing Poseidon's butt until the end of time for this one!"  
  
"Indeed," a stern voice behind him said.  
  
Cupid turned around and unconsciously put on the same 'who, me?' facial expression that Bliss and Recess had used earlier. "Hi, Uncle Poseidon," He gave his uncle a toothy smile. "You know, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this…"  
  
  
  
*****************************  
  
Bliss sighed and kicked the legs of the chair next to his. When the chair's occupant didn't react he glared at his sister. "This is *so* your fault, and I'll get you for it. Just wait," he growled, trying to look like Grandpa Ares.  
  
Apparently it didn't work because Recess just rolled her eyes at him and continued to work on her letters. "It was you who came up with the brilliant idea to take Pookie home with us. I wanted to keep him in King Iphy's bathtub."  
  
"I keep telling you, he wouldn't have fitted!" Bliss insisted. "And now we are stuck at Unc 'Pollo's temple and not allowed to leave or even fly around."  
  
"Oh, come on! It's not that bad," Recess said cheerfully. "We have time to catch up with our homework!"  
  
"Even worse!" Bliss whined. "Homework is of the evil and should be avoided at all costs. You, as the Goddess of Children and Games should know that!"  
  
"But learning is fun!"  
  
"No, it's not!" Bliss argued and started to rock his chair.  
  
Recess put down her quill and sighed, "You know, if you work hard and concentrate for an hour or so, most of your homework would be done and that would pay off when Athena decides it's time for another test."  
  
"Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now." Bliss sulked and rocked his chair harder.  
  
Recess rolled her eyes again, "Don't you have any sense of ambition?"  
  
"Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy." Bliss stated and continued to rock back and forwards.  
  
"Well, I'm going to finish this so I'll have more time to play. That's my ambition!" Recess stated and continued drawing the letter gamma over and over again.  
  
"Unc 'Pollo won't even let me use invisible ink," Bliss pouted and tipped his chair even further back.  
  
"He said he was out of it," Recess answered.  
  
"Yeah right! Like he could know! How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?"  
  
"I don't know," Recess stopped writing and looked at her brother again. "But I'm an expert at chair rocking and if you tip it back any more, you're going to hit the floor," she warned her brother.  
  
"I don't need your advi…" CRASH! Bliss' chair fell backwards and Bliss landed on the floor. "Aw, this day sucks!" he whined.  
  
"At least its not Monday!" Recess said, trying to cheer her brother up.  
  
Bliss shuddered; he hated Mondays. "Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your life."  
  
After an incident involving his daddy's arrows, Unc Jercules and a goat, Bliss had been sentenced to attend 'How to act like a responsible god' lessons with Zeus and Hera. Dad Strife had snorted and said something about a black pot and kettle that Bliss didn't really understand. But Cupid had been adamant, Bliss should attend those lessons and that was that. So now, Bliss spent his Mondays listening to hour-long lectures, trying desperately to stay awake. He had a sneaky suspicion that his father used the lessons as a timeout for him, cause he had never actually learned anything. After all, Zeus and Hera spent most of the time saying the opposite thing of their spouse and argue about it in a very polite 'not in front of the child' kind of way. Bliss was sure that if Zeus said that Alpha was the first letter in the alphabet, Hera would insist it was Omega. Maybe his real punishment was to put up with his great grandparents on a regular basis? Grownups were strange…  
  
"I can't take this anymore!" he exclaimed. "Let's go see what Unc 'Pollo is doing. We can play spies," he suggested.  
  
Recess jumped out of her chair, "Yay! How fun!" she cheered and started to jump up and down with excitement.  
  
Bliss frowned at her; "You better stop that jumping. No self-respecting spy would jump around like that," he said critically.  
  
Recess looked a bit sheepish, "Sorry," she said. "I'll be a real good spy. I promise. I'll be quiet as a mouse."  
  
"You better," Bliss threatened. "Come on! Let's sneak up on him!"  
  
*************  
  
Apollo sat in his main hall talking to Hermes and Asclepius. The children sneaked closer and started their spying.  
  
"You really shouldn't eat so much junk, Uncle Hermes," Asclepius said. "You know things made by gods can hurt us, and that includes cholesterol," he warned.  
  
Hermes just shrugged, "I live way too fast to worry about cholesterol," he stated and took another bite of his Major Super Duper Grease Burger. (Recipe courtesy of Strife)  
  
Ace shook his head, "I'm never going to get it through to the mortals that cholesterol is dangerous if you guys don't start to back me up!" he whined.  
  
"Oh, don't worry," his father said. "I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually."  
  
"In a millennia or two…" Hermes murmured and received a glare from his brother. Fortunately Ace hadn't heard him.  
  
"So, how is your experimental depression treatment going?" Apollo asked his son, trying to steer the subject away from Ace's strange crusade against cholesterol.  
  
"Oh, we're getting there." Ace frowned, "Leaving them all alone in dark rooms for months with only Gabrielle's stories to read was a complete failure though…"  
  
"You'll figure it out eventually," Apollo said, trying to be comforting.  
  
Hermes snorted, "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm," he stated firmly.  
  
"Awe, Uncle Hermes! Get with the news! Keep an open mind towards the modern medical science, please!" Ace whined.  
  
Behind a column Bliss rolled his eyes and made a face. Grandpa Ares was right, Asclepius was a whiny spoiled brat!  
  
Hermes apparently was used to Ace's whining and simply retorted, " I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out."  
  
Apollo smiled at the joke, as did Bliss and Recess behind the column.  
  
Asclepius made a horrified face, "Ew, you really shouldn't do that, Uncle Hermes. Just think of all the bacteria that can get into your head that way!"  
  
"Support bacteria, they're the only culture some people have," said the god of music.  
  
"Speaking of culture, exactly what did you and one of the muses do those hours you were missing from 'Dite's party?" Hermes, greatest gossip on Olympus, asked.  
  
Apollo smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know."  
  
"Aw, come one! It's me, your baby bro! You can tell me," Hermes begged.  
  
"Nope, it's a secret. Promised not to tell," Apollo said with a leer.  
  
"Oooo. Now I *really* want to know!"  
  
"This is boring, let's go," Recess whispered in Bliss' ear.  
  
Bliss agreed it was boring, besides he already knew what Apollo and Clio had done in Grandma 'Dite's ready room. He just couldn't figure out why Clio would make Apollo promise not to tell anyone that she beat him at chess. Twice. But to just leave, without any valuable information or any fun seemed like a terrible waste of a perfectly good sneak. "Let's sneak up behind them and scare them," he suggested instead.  
  
Recess gave him an evil grin, "Oh, yeah!"  
  
They went down on all four's and crawled closer. And closer, and closer.  
  
Just as Apollo tried to change the subject by mentioning his new chariot, they jumped him.  
  
"BOOO!!!"  
  
Apollo gave out an almost girly scream and found his lap full of giggling, winged children.  
  
"You two scared me half to death," he said with a mock glare. They were so cute after all…  
  
"Half to death? I'm so sorry, Unc' Pollo!" Recess' big brown eyes teared up and her lip began to shiver. She threw her arms around Apollo's neck and hugged as hard as she could. "We didn't mean it," she stared into Apollo's blue eyes. "Do you forgive us?" she asked, her lip still shivering.  
  
Apollo pretended to think about it, then he nodded regally, "Yes, I forgive you."  
  
Recess squealed, hugged him harder and gave his cheek a kiss.  
  
Bliss scowled at Apollo; he didn't like that Apollo fooled his sister like that. Recess really thought they'd been near to killing him. 'Nobody messes with my sister's mind, but me,' he thought and gave Apollo a glare that was purely Strife. "So Unc' Pollo…What happens if you get scared half to death twice?" he asked, his eyes glittering with something that definitely belonged in the House of War.  
  
Hermes looked at his great nephew and decided that it was time to butt in, "So, Apollo, about that new chariot of yours…"  
  
"Oh, it's great!" the sun god exclaimed. "It's self-moving, of course. My baby has no need for horses! It's golden and shines just like me. I look absolutely stunning in it!" he boasted. "And somebody ask me how fast my baby is!" he demanded.  
  
"How fast is it?" Ace asked dutifully.  
  
"It?! It? My baby is *not* an it!" Apollo pouted. "My chariot is a she, cause she gives a wild ride, if you know what I mean…" he leered and wiggled his eyebrows.  
  
Hermes coughed, glared at Apollo and nodded towards the children.  
  
Apollo looked down at the children in his lap, both staring at him with huge innocent eyes. He had the decency to blush, "Oh, you're still here…" He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Heph says he made her faster than the speed of light," he finished, praying to the Fates and his aunt Fortune that the children wouldn't ask their parents why Unc' Pollo thinks that females give a wilder ride. Or worse, ask grandpa Ares… He shuddered at the possibility.  
  
Bliss looked up at him with big, deep blue eyes. "What's the speed of light?" he asked innocently. Remembering what Dad Strife once said about a child's greatest weapons. The questions, 'Why?' 'What's that?' 'How does it work?' and 'Are we there yet?' were all good when it came to pulling a grown up down a notch or two.  
  
"Eh…" Apollo said and then froze up. Mouth half open and a bit drooling. Eyes completely blank.  
  
Bliss waved his hand in front of Apollo's eyes. No reaction. "Unc' Pollo?" he asked quite loud in Apollo's ear. No reaction. He tweaked the sun god's nose, hard. Just like Auntie Gabby used to do to Joxie when Grandpa Ares wasn't there to growl at her.  
  
Apollo gasped, bounced and took a deep breath. Seeing that the rest stared at him, he explained, "I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory."  
  
"So?" Recess asked.  
  
Apollo frowned, "So what?"  
  
Recess sighed, "What's the speed of light?"  
  
"Oh," Apollo blushed. "I must've forgotten…" he looked pleadingly at Asclepius and Hermes.  
  
Ace rolled his eyes and explained. "To be precise, what we usually call the "speed of light" is really the speed of light in a vacuum. In reality, the speed of light depends on the material that light moves through. Thus, for example, light moves slower in glass than in air, and in both cases the speed is less than in a vacuum. In a vacuum, however, light always travels at a speed of 299,792,458 meters per second," he lectured and turned to Bliss and Recess "Do you understand?" he asked.  
  
Recess nodded it wasn't hard to understand, but now she had more questions. "OK, so what's the speed of dark?" she asked.  
  
  
  
****************  
  
"It's not fair! I really wanted to know! I don't *need* a time out!" Recess whined as they entered the library.  
  
"Grownups don't know everything," Bliss tried to explain.  
  
Recess rolled her eyes," Duh! I know that!"  
  
"Yes, but for some reason, some grownups don't want us kids to know when they don't know something."  
  
"That's just silly!" Recess pouted. "If Daddy or Dad Strife doesn't know our questions they usually tell us and then tries to find somebody who does."  
  
"I guess we're lucky when it comes to parents," Bliss said and then looked a bit sad.  
  
Recess gave him a hug. "You're still sad about your Mommy?" she asked.  
  
"She promised that we would spend this week together, just the two of us. And then two days before she writes me and says that some war lord want's to take her to Athens to see some play and that she has to cancel me!" he pouted. "I don't understand. How can a warlord she hardly knows and a play be more important than *me*?"  
  
Recess hugged him harder. "You're important to me," she said.  
  
Bliss hugged her back. His sister could be a real pain in the neck sometimes, but he didn't want to be without her for everything in the world. She was always there when he needed some cheering up. And for someone so little, she was great to talk to about stuff like this. "I love you, 'Cess," he said quietly.  
  
"Of course you do! And I love you too," Recess squirmed out of the hug, feeling that her brother's mood had changed. "What are we going to do now?" she asked and looked around in the room.  
  
Bliss shrugged and joined his sister seeking for some entertainment.  
  
"Hey! There's a portal behind this!" Recess grinned and started to pull down the large tapestry.  
  
She was right. This was where Apollo had hidden his mandatory escape portal. All god's had at least one hidden somewhere in their Olympian temples. The one in their own temple was hidden in Daddy's and Dad Strife's bedroom closet. The one that was always locked. At least that was Bliss' theory. What else could be hidden in that bedroom closet that his parents always locked so carefully?  
  
"I know what to do!" Recess was jumping up and down with excitement again. "Let's use the portal and visit Fluffy!"  
  
Bliss rolled his eyes at his sister's antics. "His name isn't Fluffy. It's Cerebus. And you promised not to bother him again. Unc' Des said he'll be emotionally scarred for life! Besides, we're not allowed to leave Unc' Pollo's property."  
  
"I don't understand what the big deal is," Recess pouted. "I was just giving him a makeover. Grandma does it all the time."  
  
"There are makeovers and then there's *makeovers*," Bliss sniggered. "Not everybody looks good in Grandma 'Dite's dresses."  
  
He couldn't help but to grin when he thought about the image of big, terrifying Cerebus, shivering with his tail between his legs, looking completely pitiful, dressed in one of Grandma 'Dite's pink flimsy dresses. And if that wasn't enough, Recess had gone on a treasure hunt before starting her makeover. Therefore, the dog had Xena's boots on his hind legs and Hermes' sandals on his front paws. On the beast's three heads, Recess had put Joxer's and Hades' helmets and King Iphy's crown. Even Uncle 'Des had laughed at the sight and Dad Strife had been giggling non-stop for a week. But he'd promised Uncle 'Des not to let Recess do that again. And Dad Strife always said that it paid off to be on the good side with the Lord of the Underworld.  
  
"Let's go and check out Unc' Pollo's new chariot instead," he suggested.  
  
Recess nodded her approval and after checking that the coast was clear the two winged children sneaked out of the library.  
  
///***************///  
  
"WOW!" Bliss looked admirably at the golden chariot.  
  
"Yeah, It's cute," Recess nodded.  
  
Bliss glared at his sister, "It's not cute. A chariot isn't cute. It's awesome!"  
  
Recess shrugged and said, "Whatever," in a way that reminded Bliss of Grandma 'Dite. "I want to take a ride."  
  
Bliss frowned, "We're not supposed to leave the temple."  
  
"Oh," Recess pouted.  
  
Bliss thought about it for a while, then his frown was replaced with a devious grin. "Hey, Cess! Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"  
  
"I think so, Bliss. But how are we going to get Great Grandpa Zeus turned into a dinosaur?"  
  
"No!" Bliss groaned. "I meant, that Uncle 'Pollo's chariot is an essential part of what mortals worship him for. The whole driving the sun thing."  
  
"I thought the sun managed itself?"  
  
"It does, but the mortals don't believe that. The point is that the chariot is almost like a temple."  
  
"Sooo?" Recess asked confused.  
  
"So as long as we don't leave the chariot, we still are in the temple. And therefore can take the chariot out for a spin!" Bliss explained triumphantly.  
  
Recess snickered, "That was some real lame reasoning. I like it! But if we get caught, you'll do the talking."  
  
The children stepped into the chariot and Bliss looked around, "I'm sure there is an instruction scroll here somewhere."  
  
"Like this one?" Recess asked and picked up a scroll from a compartment in the front.  
  
"Exactly!" Bliss said, took the scroll and started to read. "Now, to start we have to push that green button," he said and pushed said button.  
  
Just as the chariot started to shake and finally began to hover, Bliss remembered something Dad Strife used to say. 'If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something'. He frowned. He knew he'd forgotten something. He froze and screamed, "Duck!" He managed to drag Recess down on the floor with him just before the chariot crashed through the roof.  
  
Recess screamed, first in fear and then of joy as the chariot soared through the sky at an amazing speed. "This is *so* cool!" she squealed.  
  
"Uh-huh," Bliss nodded while frantically searching in the manual for a stop button. Ah, the red one!  
  
The chariot slowed down and landed on a mountaintop. The chariot shook and a scream was heard.  
  
"Oh, dear," Bliss bit his lip. "I think we hit someone!"  
  
"It just figures, my life wasn't hard enough. Nooo. The Fates have to make it even worse. It's official: My life sucks!" A voice whined.  
  
The children hesitantly stepped out of the chariot and Bliss took a look at their unintentional victim. A lion's tail, a lion's body, wings, and a head like an eagle. They'd hit a griffin. He gulped; they were in trouble now. Great grandpa Zeus would rant; Grandpa Ares would blow a fuse, Auntie Eris would think it was hilarious; Daddy and Dad Strife would probably ground him for life and Recess would pout and want to keep the griffin. The griffin's life wasn't the only one who would suck if the grownups found out about this.  
  
The griffin turned his head and looked at the children, "Come to finish me off?" he asked, almost hopefully.  
  
Bliss quickly shook his head, and Recess went closer.  
  
"No," she said. "We're sorry. We didn't mean to hurt you." She glared at Bliss; "My brother can't drive."  
  
"Oh, like you could do any better!" Bliss hissed back at her. "But we're really sorry. It was an accident. I'm Bliss; this is my sister Recess," he made a gesture towards her. "How do you feel?"  
  
"I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe," The griffin replied. "And I think my left front paw and my right wing are broken."  
  
"Aww, poor you!" Recess exclaimed and moved forward, "Does it hurt much?"  
  
"Only when I move, or when I'm completely still," The griffin answered depressed.  
  
"I think I saw a first aid box in the chariot," Bliss said and went to look.  
  
"Bliss will make it all better," Recess said and comfortingly stroked the griffin's right front paw. "What's your name?"  
  
"I'm Jesse," the griffin answered. "Do you guys often drive around hitting people like this?"  
  
"Oh, no! You see we kinda borrowed the chariot from Uncle Apollo and I guess we should have read the manual before we started," Recess explained.  
  
Jesse stared at her, "You guys are gods?" he asked.  
  
"Well, duh," Recess answered, "How many ordinary children do you know with wings, traveling around in a flying chariot?"  
  
Jesse moaned, "I'm in so much trouble! My mommy said never to mess around with the gods."  
  
"Hey! We're not that bad," Recess protested. "99 percent of the Gods give the rest a bad name."  
  
"I found some neat bandages," Bliss said and went closer. He gently touched Jesse's right wing, "Ok, the good news is that it isn't broken, just sprained. I know this cause Recess sprained her wing when she was learning how to fly and jumped of a roof, and this is what it felt like."  
  
Recess glared at her brother; "I didn't jump. You pushed me!" she said accusingly.  
  
"Well, you had to learn someday, and you should've flapped your wings like I told you too." Bliss said and carefully bandaged Jesse's left paw. "I don't think this is broken either, but don't walk on it, and have someone grownup check it out later."  
  
Jesse sighed, "It doesn't matter that nothing is broken. I've failed any how." He suppressed a sob.  
  
"What do you mean," Recess asked with a confused frown.  
  
"I never do things right, everything I do goes wrong some how, so my flock leader gave me one last chance to prove I was ready to become an adult to the flock. And now I can't do that!" Jesse whined.  
  
"What do you have to do?" Bliss asked.  
  
"I have to deliver a message from my flock leader to a guy named Kringle who lives at the North Pole. And I can't do that since I can't fly!"  
  
Recess looked pleadingly at Bliss. Bliss frowned, "The chariot isn't damaged, if we give you a lift, can you keep quiet about us hitting you?"  
  
Jesse nodded, "Sure! It's not really something I'm proud over, you know."  
  
"Then let's go!" Recess squealed. And the children helped the griffin into the chariot.  
  
  
  
******************  
  
"This is a pretty nice way to travel," Jesse commented a bit later.  
  
"Yeah, say what you want about Unc' Pollo but he sure knows how to travel in style," Bliss said.  
  
"The name Apollo is familiar, but I've never managed to keep up with all the gods. What are you guys gods of?" the griffin asked, curious.  
  
"I'm the God of Happiness and Joy, and Recess the Goddess of Children and Games," Bliss answered proudly.  
  
Recess nodded, "Uh-hu! And Daddy makes people fall in love together with Grandma 'Dite, and Dad Strife does troubles, mishaps and mayhem! And Grandpa Ares makes Uncle Jercules' life miserable!" she added cheerfully.  
  
Bliss rolled his eyes, "He's the god of war," he clarified.  
  
"Oh," Jesse said.  
  
"And Great Unc 'Des sees dead people," Recess continued like she hadn't been interrupted. "And Unc 'Pollo takes care of the sun and helps cousin Ace with the healing stuff and takes care of the oracle in Delphi." She paused, "Exactly what does the oracle do?"  
  
"She's like clairvoyant or something," Bliss tried to explain. "She knows stuff about the future. One thing has always bugged me about that, though. Why do clairvoyants have to ask you for your name? Shouldn't they know it already?"  
  
Recess shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"I almost had a clairvoyant girlfriend but she left me before we met," Jesse said with a sigh. "Just my luck. I'm sure we would've been great together."  
  
Bliss really didn't know what to say about that and was relieved when he realized they where almost there. "Do we turn left or right at that polar bear?" he asked.  
  
"Right," Jesse answered.  
  
"White bears!" Recess whispered in awe.  
  
Bliss noticed the greedy glimmer in her eyes. "Absolutely not!" he said firmly.  
  
"But they're adorable! Just one! I'll call him Frosty, or Snowy," Recess begged.  
  
"No! I'm not getting blamed for yet another petnapping! If you want a Polar Bear, you go get it when I'm not around to take the blame!"  
  
"Ok," Recess pouted. "Be that way."  
  
"Look!" Jesse said. "See that cottage? That's where we're going."  
  
"Considering my trouble with landings, I better land here and then we'll walk to the house. I would really hate to crash into it," Bliss said and landed the chariot.  
  
The landing was rather bumpy, but much better than his first try.  
  
Recess practically jumped out of the chariot, "Come on then!" she shouted. "Let's run to the house! Race ya!"  
  
"What's your hurry?" Bliss said and helped Jesse out of the Chariot. "Don't worry," he said to the griffin. "I'll keep you company and help you if you need it."  
  
"Thank you," Jesse said. "I'm sorry I slow you down."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Bliss said reassuringly. "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."  
  
Recess stood and waited for them in front of the house's door, jumping up and down in excitement. "Come on!" she giggled. Grandpa Ares was right; it should be against the law to be that hyper and perky. "Can I knock on the door?" she asked.  
  
Jesse nodded and took a deep nervous breath.  
  
The door opened and a big man looked out. He had silvery hair, a short white beard and kind blue eyes. "Yes?" he asked.  
  
Jesse stepped forward, "Mr. Kringle?" The man nodded and Jesse continued, "I'm Jesse of the Goldfeather clan, I have a message from our leader Godric."  
  
Mr. Kringle nodded and smiled, "Why don't you come in? It's cold outside."  
  
And he was right about that, Jesse had his fur to keep him warm, and Bliss and Recess were gods and capable to withstand both extreme cold or exceptional heat, but all three were slightly shivering after their little walk from the chariot. It was cold on the North Pole.  
  
The small house had a homey feeling to it. A huge fireplace dominated the living room and there were big comfy chairs scattered around the room. It kind of reminded Bliss of his grandfather's library.  
  
"Fancy a cup of tea?" Mr. Kringle asked.  
  
The godlings nodded and sat down in two of the comfy chairs. Jesse laid down close to the fire.  
  
Mr. Kringle served them tea and scones and then sat down in a chair, "Now, young man, what was Godric's message?"  
  
Jesse straightened up and started reciting from memory, "Godric thanks you for the offer but has to decline. The Goldfeather clan will continue working for Zeus like they always have. That is custom and he doesn't want to change the custom."  
  
Mr. Kringle shook his head, "Poor Godric, if he thinks he can fight change. Change is inevitable, except from traveling merchants."  
  
A bit confused about what Salmoneus had to do with this, Bliss asked, "Why do you want to stea… eh take the griffins from Zeus?"  
  
"Oh, I don't want to take them, just borrow them once every year. And I would pay them," Mr. Kringle answered. "You see I'm immortal, and I'd like to do something with my life so I thought, what could be better than trying to make children happy? So I came up with the idea to give each and every child a present one night of the year."  
  
"Kewl!" Recess bounced in her seat. "What date?"  
  
"I haven't decided yet. It has to be a special date. It will come to me eventually. I just feel that something will happen that will make it all clear to me," Kringle smiled. "But my major problem is how to get the gifts to the children. I've built a huge sleigh that can carry all of it, and I've enchanted it. The sleigh has it's own time, making it possible to visit every house in one night. But I haven't found someone to pull the sleigh." He sighed, "I had such big hopes the griffins would say yes."  
  
"Sorry," Jesse mumbled.  
  
"Oh, not your fault, my boy!" Mr. Kringle put down a hand and ruffled Jesse's feather's affectionately. "It was probably just not meant to be."  
  
"I like reindeers, they're cute!" Recess piped up.  
  
"And they should be good at pulling your sleigh," Bliss said.  
  
Mr. Kringle nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, that might work. It would take a lot of time to breed them into flying reindeers, of course. But on the other side, I wouldn't have to pay them. I could spend my money on materials to all the toys I'm going to make! It actually might work! Thank you, kids!" he said warmly.  
  
"Glad to help," Bliss said.  
  
"Yeah!" Recess concurred. "And remember our temple is the big white one to the right of the big pool if you come from the Great Hall on Olympus."  
  
"I'm sure I'll find it," Kringle said seriously, "But it might take centuries before I get the reindeers to fly."  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Recess said with a grin. "I plan on not growing up for at least a millennia."  
  
"I think we better leave now," Bliss said and stood up. "They've probably missed us back home now and we really shouldn't make them worry."  
  
"I guess you're right," Recess sighed and got up. "Thank you for the tea, Mr. Kringle" she said politely.  
  
"You're welcome, dear," Kringle said and turned to Jesse, "Do you want to leave with the children or stay here until your wing heals?"  
  
"Oh," Jesse said. "I'd love to stay a while, if it's not to much trouble…"  
  
"Nonsense," Kringle said. "It'll be nice with company!"  
  
"That's great!" Recess smiled and hugged first Jesse and then Mr. Kringle.  
  
Bliss just waved goodbye, and the children left the house.  
  
On their way back to the chariot, they turned around and looked back. Mr. Kringle stood on the porch, making sure they'll make it all the way to the chariot. "Ho! Ho!" he laughed and waived an arm. "Have a good journey and may all your days be merry and bright!" He paused, "Hmm, that sounds good…" he said to himself and then continued laughing.  
  
"The last thing Bliss and Recess heard as they left the North Pole was Mr. Kringle's laughter. "Ho! Ho! Ho!"  
  
*************  
  
The trip home to Olympus was uneventful until it was time to land.  
  
"Can I do the landing?" Recess asked and batted her eyelashes. "Please?" she begged.  
  
"Ok," Bliss hesitantly agreed. "Most stuff is automatic. All you have to do is push the right button and…"  
  
"This one?" Recess interrupted cheerfully and pushed a blue button.  
  
"No!" Bliss screamed. "That one just cuts the power!"  
  
But it was too late; the chariot crashed down right through the roof of Hestia's temple.  
  
The crash was heard all over Olympus and naturally drew a lot of god's attention. Cupid was the first who reached the temple. He stared at the destruction and then noticed the golden chariot under the debris. "No!" he shouted and started frantically to remove the fragments, searching for the children he knew had used the chariot. He found them huddling together under a girder, completely unharmed.  
  
"My babies!" Cupid exclaimed and pulled them both into a bone-crushing hug. Strife soon joined in covering his children in kisses and hugs; roaming his hands over their body's, making sure they weren't hurt.  
  
Satisfied the children was unharmed, the parents withdrew and scowled at the winged godlings.  
  
"Have you any idea what you put us through today?" Strife growled at them.  
  
"You two have done a lot of bad things, but this surely takes the prize!" Cupid bellowed. "You could've gotten hurt! You've destroyed Apollo's new chariot and Hestia's temple, not to mention taking centuries of my life by making me worry." He narrowed his eyes at them, "What do you have to say for yourselves?"  
  
"We're sorry?" Bliss said meekly.  
  
"Darn right you're sorry!" Strife barked. "And you'll be even more sorry when I'm done with you. I've never been more tempted to tan your hides like I am right now."  
  
Bliss gulped and Recess looked scared. They'd never seen Strife this mad.  
  
"But I'm not going to," Strife continued. "That would be over too soon. I want you to remember this for as long as you live. Therefore, you're grounded until I say otherwise. Begging to stop the grounding will add three days automatically. During this time you'll do different work to make up for what you've done." He conjured up two small brushes. "This is one of Ace's inventions. Apparently he want mortals to clean their teeth with them. I've found another use. You're going to use these to clean every hearth fire on Olympus."  
  
"Every hearth?!" Recess whined. "But all this was Bliss' idea! Not mine! I shouldn't have to do this. I'm innocent! My conscience is clean!"  
  
Strife snorted, "A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory," he stated.  
  
"But…"  
  
"Do you want me to make it every hearth in Greece?" Strife asked her mildly.  
  
Bliss' hand clamped down over Recess' lip's before she could answer. "That won't be necessary," he said giving his parents a strained smile. "We're ready to start cleaning, whenever you say."  
  
"Good," Cupid said. "I'll take you to your first temple, and when you're done with the hearths, I'm sure I can come up with something for you to do. Cataloging all the scrolls in Apollo's library perhaps…" He put one hand on each child's back and started to push them forward.  
  
"And remember children," Strife said with a grin. "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."  
  
**************  
  
_About two months later_  
  
  
  
Strife sighed and cuddled closer to his husband on a sofa in the Great Hall. "Do you really think they've learned their lesson already?"  
  
"It's been two months, Strife!" Cupid answered. "Surely that will make them think once or twice before doing something like that again."  
  
"I hope you're right," Strife said and looked at Apollo, standing in a corner talking to Aphrodite and Hermes. "If they do anything else to poor Apollo, I think he's going to lose it."  
  
Hephaestus arrived and walked up to the Sun God. "I've gone through your chariot now," he said with a smile.  
  
Apollo grinned, "Really? It's ready? I can take it out for a ride?"  
  
"Oh, it's fine, except," Heph said hesitantly, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."  
  
Apollo let out a whimper.  
  
Hermes patted his back. "Why don't I take you home?" he said comfortingly.  
  
Apollo looked at his brother. "Going bye, bye?" he asked.  
  
Hermes nodded.  
  
"No children?" Apollo asked hopefully.  
  
"No children," Hermes confirmed, and then they left.  
  
"You know," Strife said to Cupid. "I have a bad feeling something is up."  
  
"Come on! They won't get into trouble this soon. They're safe. Besides Joxer is watching them."  
  
The two gods stared at each other. "Let's go," Cupid said and they left the Great Hall.  
  
They materialized in the room functioning as the living room in their temple. Joxer sat in a chair by the fire, snoring loudly.  
  
A quick look in Bliss' room showed the boy sleeping in his bed. Strife let out a sigh and then froze as a loud crash was heard from Recess' room.  
  
Cupid hesitantly opened the door and just stood there.  
  
Strife stared at his daughter and her guest.  
  
Recess gave her parents her patented 'I'm the most adorable and cutest girl in the world and can do no wrong' look. (It didn't work often, but Recess had hopes.) She patted the bear's white fur, "Hi Daddy, Dad Strife. This is Chilly. He followed me home. Can I keep him?"  
  
  
  
The End  
  
  
  
Scorpio's Hera's curse challenge:  
  
  
  
I came up with an idea for an AU. I figure that if everyone uses the "basic facts" for this AU and just writes up a short vignette or whatever, then I could have a bunch of stories (and so would all of you mommy's, aunts, uncles and baby-sitters) that are for children and about children. ::smirks:: About Cupid and Strife's children, to be exact.  
  
"Hera's Curse" - As the Goddess of Childbirth, the Queen of Olympus is blamed/credited with inventing the "mother's" curse. (My mom placed it on me, so I *know* it works) It goes; "Someday *you* are going to have children, and they will act just! like! YOU!"  
  
  
  
Hera's Curse AU "rules and facts"  
  
- Cupid and Strife are happily married. Psyche was divorced and stripped of God Powers.  
  
- Cupid was the one to give birth to their daughter, Recess. She looks a lot like her older half-brother Bliss, only her hair and wings are raven black.  
  
- Bliss (unless someone knows for sure what he was on the show) is the Godling of Happiness/Joy [this fits his name and makes sense as the son of Love and the Mind(Psyche)]  
  
- Recess is the Goddess of Childhood/Games [this makes sense as the daughter of Love and Mischief]  
  
- Joxer is Bliss and Recess' favorite "baby-sitter" because of his sweet temper and love of fun...not to mention he's easy to "escape" from to the Mortal Realm. ::grins::  
  
- When Bliss and Recess "escape" from whoever (mostly Joxer) they tend to go to their favorite mortals/demi-gods for entertainment.  
  
--- King Orestes children/heirs [playmates]  
  
--- King Iphicles son/heir [playmate]  
  
--- Salmonious [he's always got neat stuff to play with - much to his chagrin]  
  
--- Unc' Auto (Hermes demi-god son Autolycus) - they like to "help" him find all of the "neat pretties", although he is *not* inviting them to pop in while he is stealing, they do it anyway.  
  
--- Pestering Gabby for "stories" about Unc' Joxie and Aunt Xena.  
  
--- Trying to convince Cupid/Strife to let them keep the various animals (as outrageous as you like) that they drag up to Olympus as "pets".  
  
--- Playing with the children of various small villages. (which often end in disaster for the villagers and squeals of joy for the kids)  
  
If you can, try to include a few of the people from above (although not all!) and a few plot elements from below.  
  
Plot elements:  
  
- Cupid/Strife having to fix messes, offer services in payment and just generally soothe "ruffled feathers" and "upset people".  
  
- Someone sounding like an idiot (probably Ares, Strife, Discord, etc...) by yelling in anger while not "cussing" in front of the babies.  
  
- Some game (made up or real) that the kids talk someone into playing.  
  
- When told "no" to a request, whining is a first line of defense; when in trouble for being bad, cuteness is.  
  
- Dite, Discord and Ares being unsympathetic towards Strife and Cupid. "After all, when *you* were their age, you were *so* bad. I remember one time when..."  
  
  
  
So, there it is. The "Hera's Curse" AU challenge. ::grins:: Just remember, they have to be rated G or PG so that I (or anyone else) can share them with the children in their lives. And yes, I do realize I'm asking for stories to share with my child that feature same-sex relationships. I'm trying to raise him right. ::winks:: Tolerance is the only option.  
  
Scorpio  
  
  
  
Marion's one-liner's challenge:  
  
It's been so quite lately that I've decided to throw in a little challenge. Or inspiration.  
  
Here's the deal, below are a bunch of one-liners someone sent me some time ago. I've 'adapted' some of them slightly to fit better in the 'Herc' universe, but that's all. If one of them inspires you to some cool fic, great! But, the more you use the more brownie points you get.  
  
Yeah, I know, it's been done before but what do you expect of me, in August, during a heatwave, with fic-withdrawel symptoms - originality?  
  
:)  
  
So, here are the 'liners:  
  
  
  
Save the whales. Collect the whole set.  
  
I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.  
  
99 percent of the Gods give the rest a bad name.  
  
I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.  
  
Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.  
  
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.  
  
I live way too fast to worry about cholesterol.  
  
Support bacteria, they're the only culture some people have.  
  
Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your life.  
  
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.  
  
Change is inevitable, except from traveling merchants/Salmoneus.  
  
I almost had a clairvoyant girlfriend but she left me before we met.  
  
OK, so what's the speed of dark?  
  
How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?  
  
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.  
  
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.  
  
Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.  
  
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.  
  
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?  
  
I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.  
  
I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.  
  
Why do clairvoyants have to ask you for your name?  
  
Marion 


End file.
